3D printing technology in hepatobiliary surgery education: a systematic review

Three-dimensional printing (3DP) is increasingly applied in surgical training; however, its effectiveness and reliability in hepatobiliary surgery education remain uncertain.

To systematically review the literature on the application and effectiveness of 3DP in hepatobiliary surgical training and anatomical education.

PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library were searched for publications dated 1 January 1995, to 19 January 2025. Two investigators independently performed the literature search and screened eligible studies that reported the use of 3DP models for surgical training or anatomical education. Study quality was assessed using the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument (MERSQI), and levels of evidence were graded using the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (OCEBM) framework. Extracted data included study design, participant numbers, type of surgical training, type of anatomical education, and reported subjective and objective outcomes.

Twenty-two studies investigated the application of 3DP in clinical surgical training and 12 studies focused on anatomical education. Laparoscopic procedures were the most frequently reported training context (59%). In anatomical education, tumor localization was the most common task (50%). Ten studies reported that 3DP significantly improved operative performance, reducing operation time by 34-54.6% in laparoscopic and choledochoscopic training. In anatomical education, 3DP models improved students' performance by 57-70% in liver segment memorization.

3DP models demonstrated substantial value in both surgical training and anatomical education for hepatobiliary surgery. Although still developing, 3DP has already achieved broad acceptance among surgeons and medical students as an effective adjunct for skill acquisition and anatomical understanding.